pope francis speaks to the parish priests of Rome

Back in March Pope Francis spoke to the parish priests of Rome about mercy and what it means to be a shepherd of souls. I've been wanting to do a simultaneous translation, here it is. I think it's a must-watch for any priest!

a humbling line of work

Dear Family and Friends,

Being a priest you receive so many gifts – spiritual ones.

 

the chapel at school

I spend a lot of time in the chapel at school. The other day I was there praying when one of the teachers brought the preschool children in. They made their way up to the front where she pointed out the tabernacle. “Jesus is in there,” she told them.

“Is that really Jesus?” one of the children piped up. The teacher nodded. “Is he gonna come out?” asked another.

 

children praying at school

Simple questions. But profound. Aren’t those the questions and the desires of every heart? I feel blessed to witness them!

Then there’s confession. For all my life I knelt on one side of the screen. Now I continue to go myself, but I spend a lot of time on the other side.

When I was the one naming my sins and asking forgiveness, I always assumed the priest was thinking to himself, “What a wretch!” Now that I’m hearing confessions, I’m always thinking to myself, “Wow, what humility!”

What humility – that someone would reveal their failings to a mere man, trusting that through him God will grant His forgiveness. What humility – that a person will kneel and place themselves and all their weakness in God’s hands, by means of a weak instrument.

Being witness to the faith of children and the humility of souls are some of the things I’m thankful for as a priest.

God bless you!

Father Kevin 

losing my voice

Giving Eucharistic Benediction on Easter Sunday

Dear Family and Friends,

I lost my voice while hearing confessions on Good Friday. I can’t sing, I can speak, I can kind of croak.

Playing soccer the other day, I couldn’t shout to ask for a pass. Celebrating mass with other priests on Easter, I couldn’t speak in more than a whisper. At lunch and dinner, I couldn’t make any witty comments. That’s tough!

But amazingly enough, this has been a huge eye-opener for me. I never realized how much I like to speak, and how often my comments are unnecessary! The soccer game was fine without my shouts and jokes. The mass was just as valid in a whisper as with a full voice. Lunch and dinner went fine (if not better!) without my witty comments!

We love to use our tongues, we feel at a loss without them. But we need to ask ourselves, above all, if we’re using our tongues to the glory of God. And many times, silence is so much better than speaking!

Happy Easter!

Father Kevin 

first mass at home

during the homily

Dear Family and Friends,

Last Sunday I had the gift of celebrating mass at my home parish of Saint Mary Magdalen in Brentwood, Missouri. Father Jack Siefert and the whole parish gave me and my family a huge welcome.

 

concelebrating with my old classmate Father John O'brien

After mass the parish offered a reception and luncheon. I was able to meet many old friends, including Father John O’Brien. He is one of four of us from my 5^th grade class at Gateway Academy in 1992-93 who followed religious vocations. We are three priests and one consecrated woman. We owe a lot to our teacher, Miss Hurley.

with mom before mass

After so many years of preparation – and lots of counting on the prayers of those in the parish – it was so amazing to come home again, this time as a priest. Words can’t describe it! I think I now know a little of what inspired Mary to sing the Magnificat, her song of thanksgiving. God is soooo good!

 

with some of my family members

Here are a few pictures. May God bless you!

Father Kevin

www.cblstones.com

 

I spent many hours as a boy trying to understand all the intricacies of this painting group

PS Next Saturday, the 12^th, I will be at Queen of Apostles Family Center near Indianapolis, Indiana with many friends for a special mass at 2:15pm. Beforehand we are planning to help at a local Charity, the Midwest Food Bank. If anyone would like to join us, just let me know!

mom and dad bringing up the gifts

PPS My first mass was Gaudete Sunday, one of the only two times in the year when the priest gets to wear rose-colored vestments. Providence would have it that my first mass at home was Laetare Sunday – the only other day you wear rose vestments. Pink was never my favorite color, I’ll tell you that much. God sure has a sense of humor!

one year with our shepherd

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s been one year since that rainy March day when Pope Francis was elected. What a wonderful gift he has been and is to all of us! I try to listen to and read his preaching, and he is inspiring. Perhaps even more inspiring is the example of his life – seeing him in action as shepherd.

Pope Francis sent out one tweet yesterday: “Please pray for me”. Let’s offer up our prayers once again for him, that he’ll continue guiding us like Jesus would!

God bless you,
Father Kevin

www.cblstones.com

PS: Today is the 3-month anniversary of my ordination. They’ve been three wonderful months, that’s for sure! All 31 of us new priests have been in contact throughout the day.

PPS: For my post about the day Francis became Pope, see here

Pope Francis up close

Dear Family and Friends,

Below is a message recorded on an IPhone by Pope Francis for a meeting of Christians. It's an up close view of our Holy Father, and he even speaks some English at the beginning! I love his vision of Christians coming together.

May God bless you,
Father Kevin

the disaster of the papers

site of the disaster of the papers

Dear Family and Friends,

Friday was a hard day at school. One of the most beloved teachers was diagnosed with cancer a few months back, and Friday morning the principal explained to the kids how “we’re not sure if she’ll get better.” Everyone was sad, distraught, confused, worried, fearful… you name it.

I had to celebrate and preach at the all-school mass in the afternoon – but about what? How could I help these kids who were suffering so much trying to understand why God would allow their beloved teacher to suffer?

Thankfully the Gospel of the day was about taking up your cross, so I prepared a homily all about that. I thought it was good. 45 minutes before mass, I went to the front row of the chapel to fine tune my homily. As I sat there reflecting, some commotion outside caught my eye through the window. Papers were blowing all across the sidewalk in front of the school.

It was a blustery day beyond compare, so no wonder the papers were blowing all over the place.

For a moment I hesitated between the two possibilities: “go and help”, or “stay and polish my homily.” “Go and help” won, though another “gosh, I never get time to polish my homilies” passed through my head as I walked out the door of the chapel.

I was hoping it would be just a few papers, but as I stepped from the doorway my hopes of a quick cleanup were shattered. Hundreds – yes – hundreds of papers were strewn across the grass, the parking lot, and the playground. Two students had been carrying a recycling bin full of papers between builidings when a gale-force wind had hit them.

I started grabbing the little white squares left and right. The students couldn’t help because they had their hands full just holding onto the papers left in the bin. The only other help was one of the school moms who had seen the disaster happen and had come to help.

But as both of us rounded the corner of the building, a sorry spectacle spread before our eyes. Papers of all sorts had blown to the farthest reaches of the school property. Many up to 500 feet away, some pinned against fences, others caught in pools of water or mud left over from the melting snow. “I’m going to be here all afternoon,” I thought, spirits sinking.

And then it happened. One of the side doors of the school opened and out poured a slew of second-graders. They looked so happy and energetic, at first I thought they were coming out to recess.

But no. In a flash, all of them, boys and girls, slow and fast, had spread to the farthest corners of the school grounds, grabbing the lost papers.

After that, things were a cinch. What would have taken me two hours to do took two minutes. The second graders had saved the day! Though a bit cold and wet and muddy, they had performed a powerful act of charity.

As I sat back down in the chapel to work on the homily, a thought slowly grew in my mind. “God just gave me a much better homily than the one I had prepared.”

I gave in. My homily would be the story of the second-graders and the runaway papers. What better way to explain suffering!!!

The poor students who had the papers ripped away from them by the wind, what could they see? Only a big disaster. So too are we most often. We can only see our suffering. It’s hard for us to understand how God can have a plan in all of this, why God permits the suffering.

For the second-graders, the disaster of the wind-swept papers was a welcome 10-minute break from a day of class, and a wonderful opportunity to exercise charity. Really! Those kids were braving mud and puddles and soggy grass, and – what’s more – the possibility of getting in trouble later for their clothes being dirty. As I poked my head into their classroom afterwards to thank them, I found them feverishly trying to clean the muck off, but I also found them with huge smiles on their faces.

God has a plan, and when we’re the ones suffering, we can’t see the fullness of His plan. All we can do is trust that He, in His goodness, on His time, will make things work out for the best.

No disaster of the papers, no chance for the second-graders to shine.

I know I don’t understand why God lets our beloved teacher suffer, but God does. And we have to trust Him. Trust that just around the corner of the building lies the fullness of His plans. And His plans are always better than ours.

May God bless you,

Father Kevin

www.cblstones.com